Kierra Harrison Foundation

Brandon Kentrell Mann

2 years

Non Survivor

Day-care drivers may face tougher set of rules
By Phil West / Associated Press

State Attorney General Paul G. Summers is considering emergency rules aimed at making sure day-care van drivers don't leave children sweltering in parked vans.

The rules, which Summers is expected to approve by Monday, would make drivers keep logs and take head counts of children before and after trips, as well as walk through the vehicles to make sure no one is left behind, Human Services Commissioner Natasha Metcalf said yesterday.

Under the proposed rules, a day-care center supervisor would then double-check the van to make sure it is empty.
Two Memphis children died after they were left behind in parked day-care vans on July 21. The rules would make day-care van drivers spend more time guaranteeing their vehicles are empty before leaving them.

Current DHS rules require only that day-care van drivers take a "frequent roll" of their passengers, Metcalf told the Legislature's watchdog Fiscal Review Committee.

"We will add more regulations to require a roll at the start and stop and then a walk-through," she said.
Shelby County's medical examiner ruled accidental hyperthermia killed 22-month-old Darnecia Slater and 2-year-old Brandon Kentrell Mann during the July heat.

Darnecia was found dead in a van outside the Children's Palace Learning Center's north Memphis location about 4 p.m. on July 21. Brandon was alive when found in a van outside the Pee Wee Wisdom Learning Center, but died about an hour later.
Department of Human Services regulators suspended the licenses of the day-care centers July 23 and reinstated them the following week.

"The department finds that the repeated occurrence of the above-cited incidents within a relatively short period of time demonstrates that such incidents are likely to recur without stronger regulatory direction to child care providers," Metcalf wrote in the Statement of Necessity Requiring Emergency Rules.

After talking with legislators yesterday morning, Metcalf went to Memphis where she met with Mayor Willie Herenton, whose office has drafted an ordinance requiring local day-care centers to provide details on their ownership and management before receiving a permit to operate.

Sen. Steve Cohen asked Metcalf whether the 800 licensed day-care centers in Memphis should be under city and state control.
"I think the state can do a good job of regulating the day-care centers. I'm not sure that having state and local regulatory authority, especially if we're going to be looking at the same issues, would be beneficial," she said.

Metcalf also reported DHS plans to begin tracking former welfare recipients who go to work under the Families First program to make sure they and their families are better off working than not.

"We're hopeful we can move people into jobs where there's room for advancement," she said.

Many former welfare recipients want to attend cosmetology school, but the number of graduates far outstrips the number of jobs.